


An Unchilded Earth

by RobertSaysThis



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dark, Bleak, Dark, Depressing, Gen, Glasgow, Horror, Scottish Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-03-03 22:15:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13350606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobertSaysThis/pseuds/RobertSaysThis
Summary: On a dark, winter's night, a young woman is shown the universe.





	An Unchilded Earth

She didn’t remember why she’d gone inside.

It was alright to be curious: natural, even. At first, she’d thought someone must have taken the box from Buchanan Street and dumped it by her house for a laugh, but that didn’t make much sense if you thought about it. Even on the coldest November night, the centre of Glasgow thronged; you couldn’t get the police box out of it without you being seen. Perhaps this was another one, far shyer, who like her hid away from humankind.

But even so, you do not go inside. She knew this. Curiosity rarely killed, but did leave scars; she’d been burned so many times in her life this far. Perhaps it was the impression of light from within the box that made her press her hand against its door, perhaps it was the thrum that pounded like the bassline of the world. No matter. In the end, all that mattered was she shouldn’t have gone in but had.

Inside the box was a space that could not be inside a box, that stretched out bigger than the world. Inside that space was a man, who looked too young to be as old as he was and too old to be as much of a child. With a sad smile, the man told her that the box was a magical device, capable of going anywhere in time and space. And there were a million questions to be asked about that, and she didn’t think to ask a single one.

The man took her to the past, where she saw pain and disease on a level she’d never dared to imagine. He took her to the future, where the ruin of her city smoked after nuclear war. And he took her across the vast void of the universe where no living creature lived, and told her that mankind would always be alone. She’d stared at an abyss that was vaster than vastness could be, and she’d felt something inside her break apart forever.

She did remember why she’d gone outside. She’d gone at a run, across that vast, endless space that filled up the tiny box. She’d run as fast as she could from the man, whose cry rang out like the loneliness of the stars.

Outside, the box seemed normal. A blue, tall thing, ordinary as the rest of her extraordinary world, full of meaning in a way only that planet would ever be. All of space and time was tiny, and only the Earth was huge. 

No-one else could go with that man, she knew.

She picked up the box’s phone, and sadly dialed the police.


End file.
